[Brandonmark]

It appears signs of civilized life returning to Afghanistan.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I predicted a massacre. See? I was right. Beards are getting slaughtered by the thousands. =] [Thank God it's just beards.]

[cactmh]

This is a wonderful side effect of our war on terrorism.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

One after another they came and one after the other the beards fell to the floor. At the end of the day, Amonullah, the proprietor, stood exhausted in a pile of beard cuttings. He smiled when he realized there was one thing he had forgotten to do.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to shave off my own beard," Mr. Amonullah said.

LOL.

[NC Conservative]

ISN'T FREEDOM WONDERFUL.

[EggsAckley]

Perhaps we should name him "The Barber of Civil"

[July 4th]

Mr. Asif has dreamed of the day when he would be able to watch again. That moment arrived today when he unearthed his television and slipped a weathered copy of "Titanic" into the VCR.

Now, let's start airdropping some decent movies.

Freedom's a wonderful thing! Sounds like the Afghanis are the happiest people in the world this week.

[wideawake]

Here's the dilemma. If they kill the collaborators, then the UN will get its panties in a knot about human rights and Pashtuns in the south will be itching for revenge and reprisal.

If they let the collaborators live, they will never be secure since they will have spies in their midst.

The smartest solution would be to ethnically segregate these peoples, create a Pushtunistan and a Hazaristan and incorporate the Turkmen, Uzbeks and Tajiks into Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Pushtunistan would be a client state of Pakistan. Hazaristan would be a client state of Iran. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan would remain as client states of Russia.

The balance of power in the region would not be compromised, and the essential flaw of nation-building would be overcome. You cannot build a nation if there are two or more nations living in one country. The Pashtuns are a nation, so are the Uzbeks and the rest. If they have their own land which they do not have to share, they will be more successful at building a successful government.

Likewise, if we go into Iraq and kill Saddam, we should take the northern portion of the country and make it Kurdistan. This will reduce Iraq's regional power, making it less of a threat to its neighbors (Kuwait, Iran) and less of a destabilizing influence on the region. Turkey will be happy that the Kurds will no longer be trying to carve a homeland out of Turkey.

[FITZ]

Where is bin Laden now?

[TomGuy]

Interesting the NA didn't encounter crowds of 1000's demonstrating against USA. I bet they are pretty grateful to USA. I bet CNN is sort of disappointed at that.

It is wonderful to see the masses rejoicing, singing...so fantastic to see them free from their oppression.

[ikanakattara]

The Northern Alliance is most likely going to behave itself as long as the Americans, the British, the Russians, and the Turks are breathing down their necks. The trick will be to organize a stable government that can persist *without* us babysitting them.

[NC_Libertarian]

"I've got nothing against beards, you know, and as you can see I've kept my mustache," said Mr. Istat, a shopkeeper. "The problem is when someone tells you that you have to have one. That's why I hated it."

Right on. Live free or kill.

[Elihu Burritt]

"Everywhere people are digging up their television sets," Mr. Asif.

Lucky thing they have had a drought for four years.

[Clovis_Skeptic]

i"I've got nothing against beards, you know, and as you can see I've kept my mustache," said Mr. Istat, a shopkeeper. "The problem is when someone tells you that you have to have one. That's why I hated it."

a rebel with a cause...ya got to love it!

I think Britney Spears (sp?) just found some new fans too.

[jackbill]

"I've got nothing against beards, you know, and as you can see I've kept my mustache," said Mr. Istat, a shopkeeper. "The problem is when someone tells you that you have to have one. That's why I hated it."

Kind of like how we feel about seat belts and motorcycle helmets, Mr. Istat.

[sweetliberty]

That was a very uplifting story to read. Let's finish off these dogs and move on to Saddam!

[caddie]

We had a similar three-finger length rule for the bangs on your forehead in high school. Run by the Jesuit fathers.

Hmmmmmmm....

[Silly]

Men tossed their turbans into the gutters. Families dug up their long-hidden television sets. Restaurants blared music. Cigarettes flared, and young men talked of growing their hair long. In the most noticeable change of all, women, clad in their head-to-toe burkas, walked the streets alone, no longer required to have a male relative at their side. They walked by themselves and they walked with each other, their blue and white and red burkas blowing open in the afternoon breeze.

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

[LJLucido]

Damn. I hate waiting in line for a haircut. I think I'll come back in a month or so.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I'm so glad to see people relishing freedom, it brings joy to my spirit. I'm so glad we didn't "nuke'em all". Now, I think we have overcome the obstacle of proving to the Islamic world that this is not a war against Islam, this is a war against terror. We may not have completely overcome the suspicions, but the liberation of Kabul is a big first step.

[r9etb]

"Everywhere people are digging up their television sets," Mr. Asif.

A very interesting outlook on life. The penalty for being found with one would be extreme, yet didn't just get rid of them, they buried them -- saving them for later. So on the one hand they assumed the Taliban wouldn't last, and on the other hand, they had their own version of resistance to the Taliban. They also didn't fight back -- they patiently waited, apparently, for the problem to go away. (A good assumption, given that it's probably what's always happened in Afghanistan.)

I see three conflicting things here: these folks can probably be jollied into accepting a reasonable government, just as they apparently accepted a Taliban government; they will probably not be particularly protective of whatever government they have; but they do have an underlying independent streak that might be tapped somehow.

It also seems to suggest that there's a real difference between the soldiers in Afghanistan, and "normal people." Probably it's always been so. One wonders if it's even possible in Afghanistan to find leaders who aren't involved with armies of one kind or another. And if one can't find a non-army leader, one wonders if a civilized Afghan government will ever exist.